Fresh registrations stalled, car sales in state take a hit

Vijay C Roy

Chandigarh, December 5

Following disruption in the registration of new vehicles in November in the state, car sales reported lowest numbers in the current year (calendar year). As per Vahan data, the total car sales were 8,388 units in November as compared to 10,108 units in October and 8,475 units in September. When the state government found 5,706 BS-IV vehicles registered fraudulently by violating the guidelines of the Supreme Court, it stalled the new registration to check the menace.

The state restrained the automobile dealers from accessing the online registration portal by blocking the user ID provided for the purpose of registration of vehicles. As a result, registration of new vehicles was hampered. Many of the dealers stalled the process was stalled around November 7.

Punjab Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court, a complete ban was imposed on the registration of high-polluting BS-IV vehicles after March 31, 2020, but many such vehicles had been registered fraudulently.

The investigation revealed that the vehicle owners, company dealers and clerks, assistants and accountants of RTA/SDM offices and some senior officials manipulated with engine and chassis numbers and vehicle manufacturing details and registration of these vehicles was done besides evading taxes.

In addition to this, many vehicle dealers continued their dealerships without getting themselves registered in the office of the State Transport Commissioner (STC) at that time and they have been found to be involved in fraud with the government by registering such vehicles on a large scale in their own names.

So, the state government asked the dealers to comply with new terms and conditions to carry out business impacting sales of four-wheelers.

Perturbed over the issue, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex national body of automobile retail in the country, wrote a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on November 25, stating that some of the automobile dealers were yet to access the online registration portal set up for the purpose of registration of new motor vehicles despite complying to the recent notification issued by the state government.